


Blindsided

by TwicetheTrouble-FFnet-archive (TwicetheTrouble)



Category: Naruto
Genre: Almost Crack fic, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blind Character, Blind Naruto, Chuunin Exams, Creepy Orochimaru (Naruto), F/M, Kabuto is a rat bastard, Nohara Rin Lives, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, because I say so, because i forget tags, chapters will be posted as I edit them, i'm in editing hell, in the process of editing, very old fic, why did i decide to edit an almost decade old fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:42:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25604515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwicetheTrouble/pseuds/TwicetheTrouble-FFnet-archive
Summary: Unlike the original, Orochimaru finds Naruto to be too much of a nuisance to be ignored but too intriguing to just kill. Now Naruto is forced to cope without the one thing everyone takes for granted the most. His sight.Or, Naruto goes blind and ends up stronger as a result.
Relationships: Fuu of Takigakure/Uzumaki Naruto, Hatake Kakashi & Uzumaki Naruto, Jiraiya & Uzumaki Naruto, kyuubi/Nanabi
Comments: 34
Kudos: 101





	1. A Small Problem

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! Here's my baby from like 8 years ago. It was originally posted in 2015 but I had been working on it for almost three years before then so it's a very, very old fic. I'm moving it over here to AO3 since, on sep 1, i have decided to finally delete my FF.net account for good but don't want the fics i have posted there to disappear. So i will be bringing them all there, starting with this one!
> 
> i had a lot different of a writing style back then and am currently doing some heavy editing of this fic so it's at least readable (and fixing a lot of the things i no longer like about it.) Also, tho this sounds like a fairly serious topic, It's mostly just a lot of crack. I do deal with the serious stuff on occasion but it's mostly just Naruto learning to navigate the world through humor and hijynks.
> 
> Hope you enjoy,
> 
> TBL
> 
> (small warning for this chapter. Naruto is very confused as to what pronouns to use for Orochimaru and often refers to him as a pedophile simply to get a rise out of him. This is the only time this happens to my knowledge. I felt like i should mention it just in case.)

“Are you alright? Scaredy cat,” I taunted.

My eyes felt sharper as I single-handedly held back an extremely large snake from eating Sasuke. A part of me really loved the way things stood, I was the one protecting my team while Sasuke was scared stiff. Oh how the turns had tabled. Or was it ‘how the tables had turned?’ Either way, there’s no way he could call me the Dead Last now that I saved his pretty boy ass.

While contemplating whether turns could get tabled, I lost track of the gift-wrapped freak on the snake’s head. She, or he (after meeting Haku I learned never to assume someone’s gender based on facial features and hair length) grabbed me with his…her…THEIR tongue before I could react. A second later I was dangling in front of the long-haired individual, trying to wiggle free of the disgustingly long appendage.

“LET ME GO YOU UNI-SEXED PEDOPHILE!”

The person looked at me questioningly for a moment before brushing off the comment completely.

“The nine tailed brat is still alive, I see. With quite the tongue on him as well.”

“Bet you like that!”

Again I was ignored, though I did get the pleasure of seeing an angry tick appear on their forehead.

“Oddly enough, you and your bijuu are coexisting quite well. I’m going to have to change that.” They raised a hand, each finger glowing with a different kanji.

“FIVE PRONGED SEAL!” they shouted as the glowing fingers were forced into my seal.

An intense pain coursed throughout my body. I wasn’t aware of much past it, though I could have sworn someone shout to Sasuke while another voice simply screamed. It took me a while to realize it was me who was screaming, but I couldn’t figure out who the other voice was. Or why they were shouting at Sasuke when I was the one getting hurt.

Everything became fuzzy after that, like I was on the brink of losing consciousness. I was vaguely aware of being thrown into a tree then dangling there from my jacket. But I needed to stay awake. I felt that if I let myself get knocked out, something bad would happen. So I clawed my way back to the real world, fighting tooth and nail just to get awareness once again.

I struggled to open my eyes only to find myself dangling from a tree, nothing holding me there except a kunai through my coat. I could hear fighting nearby, probably that bow-wearing person and one of my teammates. Though, remembering how helpful they were before, maybe not. Whoever they were fighting, I figured I could get down without them noticing, but only if I was quick about it.

Pain still tingled through my body as I reached up and pulled out the kunai. I focused my chakra into my feet as soon as I started falling. But something wasn’t right. My chakra wasn’t working like it should as my feet slid down the bark instead of sticking to it.

I landed wobbly onto a branch below me, grabbing the trunk to keep from falling. Once my balance was back, I quickly glanced over towards where the fight was coming from. I blinked. Then blinked again. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. My eyes must be wrong since I was certain Sasuke couldn’t be that person’s opponent. Let alone doing well against him.

He surprised them with a couple kunais, a shuriken, and some ninja wire. Which was a pretty good move, I had to admit. Quietly. So, no one would hear it. But, if that wasn’t good enough, he set it all on fire and burned their face off. It peeled off their head like one would an orange, revealing another, somehow more sinister, face beneath it. They said something about wanting Sasuke, which must have creeped my teammate out since the bastard froze, again.

They didn’t even move as they stretched their neck out, their snake-like fangs gunning towards Sasuke’s neck. Without a second thought, I threw myself towards the assailant, grabbing their neck before they could reach my teammate. The fangs dug into a nearby tree, making them hiss in annoyance. I wasn’t even given the chance to let go before their neck returned to their body, reeling me in along with it.

They grabbed me by the collar, dangling me before them, unimpressed by my struggles to get free.

“How are you still conscious?” They studied me with a look in their eyes that I wasn’t comfortable with. It reminded me of an evil doctor or a mad scientist. A look that said they no longer saw a person in front of them, only something interesting they wanted to take apart. “I tightened your seal so you can’t access the fox’s power, so how are you able to keep fighting?”

“I don’t need that stupid furball’s power to fight you, ya creepy pedophile!” I yelled back.

I continued to struggle, this time kicking out at my captive but found myself being held just a little too far out of range.

“And why do you keep calling me a pedophile?”

“Because you look at Sasuke like hungry kids look at an ice cream cone, you clearly said you ‘want him’, and you just tried to give him a hickey. So that makes you some creepy old pedophile… or Ino in disguise.”

“I’m not a ‘creepy old pedophile’ nor a fan girl,” they said crossly.

“Umm…if you’re not a creepy _guy_ or a fan _girl_ , then what gender are you?” I asked, inching my hand towards my kunai pouch while they glared at me.

“Male,” he hissed in annoyance.

“Cool, cool. Definitely good to know. It’s better than calling you ‘that creepy person trying to bite my teammate.’ It was getting a little long to keep thinking-“

But before my fingers could even brush the pouch, my opponent slammed me into the branch of the tree we were standing on.

“Cleaver boy, trying to distract your opponent while planning a counter strike,” he said, sounding amused. “I must say, you are quite intriguing yourself, but you keep getting in my way. It would be easier just to kill you so I’d know for sure you wouldn’t ruin my plans; but then I wouldn’t get a chance to study you more.”

Both choices were equally horrible in my mind. The man was starting to give off the creepy doctor vibe, and I didn’t like doctors to begin with. I was about to voice my opinion on the subject when I was slammed into the tree again, causing my vision to swim.

“But I have plenty of time to come up with a solution,” I heard the snake-man say, his voice sounding as if it was under water.

I was starting to lose consciousness again, but this time there was no fighting it. The last thing I saw was the mad man’s neck extended again and the sound of Sasuke screaming in pain before all went black.

! ! ! !FEW HOURS LATER! ! ! !

After giving Sasuke his “present” and that so-called “fight” with Anko, Orochimaru was in a pretty good mood. He was still hanging in the Forest of Death, more for his own enjoyment than anything else. He had some things he had to do, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy a leasurly walk on the way. Soon after fighting his precious student, he had come up with a way to solve his problem with the blond brat. It was an ingenious idea, yet so painfully simple he should have thought of it before hand.

It was nearly dark when he found the person he was looking for. Orochimaru dropped down in front of the group, startling only the two teammates.

“Orochimaru-sama, did everything go well?” the single, unsurprised person questioned.

“Yes, though I did run into a small problem. One I was hoping you could help me rectify, Kabuto.”

“Whatever it is, Orochimaru-sama, I’m sure I can handle it.” The silver haired man smirked as he pushed his glasses up, making them flash.

! ! ! !FEW DAYS LATER! ! ! !

We had been in the forest now for about four days and we were running low on time. Somewhere along the way we had picked up the weird guy with the ninfo cards after he had lost his teammates at some point in the last few days or something.

I hadn’t been listening very hard to his explanation since I was still trying to figure out when Sakura had the time for a haircut. I mean it was cute and all but we were in the middle of the Forest of _Death_. It wasn’t exactly the best time for a makeover. I had asked her once but she only rolled her eyes and called me an idiot. Which didn’t exactly give me an answer.

During the time we were traveling with the silver haired spectacles man, we had ran into a random team and were able to snitch the scroll we needed when they weren’t looking. Technically, we knocked them all out first, but same thing. After traveling a little longer, we set up camp right when the sun was starting to go down.

Spectacles offered to take first watch. Though my teammates were a bit apprehensive, they decided that it was probably best. He had more experience in the field than all three of us put together. It would make sense that he would take at least one of the watches. I passed out as soon as my head hit the bedroll, not nearly as distrustful as I should have been.

! ! ! !FEW MORE HOURS LATER! ! ! !

“Naruto, wake up. It’s your watch,” I heard Sakura say as she nudged me with her foot. I rolled over.

“Five more minutes,” I muttered into the fabric.

“Get up!” she hissed, kicking me off my bedroll.

“Wha?” My eyes shot open, looking around to figure out what just happened, but my surroundings were just too dark to make anything out.

“It’s your watch,” Sakura whispered again. I could hear her footsteps move away as she went back to her own sleeping spot. “I’m going to sleep so you better stay awake or you’ll regret it.”

“I’m up,” I said, through a yawn as I pulled myself into a sitting position.

It was too dark to move anywhere else without tripping over a sleeping person, which I’d rather not do. My team hated me enough as it was, I didn’t want to give them any more reasons to do so. Meaning I stayed put during my entire watch, all the while trying to figure out why it was called a ‘watch’ if it was so dark you couldn’t see anything.

Time felt like it was dragging as I waited for the first ray of sunlight to start illuminating the dark. But though the temperature eventually started to rise, the sky never got any lighter. I sighed, apparently it was just going to be one of those days were time crawls without a single reason why.

It felt like forever before I heard someone’s bedroll rustle before a confused “hm” that could only be from Sasuke.

“Dobe, you were supposed to wake us at sunrise,” he said, his voice sounding a tad annoyed.

“The sun’s taking its own sweet time rising,” I muttered, resting my chin on my hand.

“It’s already up.”

“Impossible!”

“It’s already ten o’clock,” Sasuke continued. I glanced around, worry creeping into the back of my mind when I still couldn’t see any sunlight. “Sakura, we have to go. The idiot decided to ignore the sun.”

“What? Idiot! Are you blind or something?!”

The sound of them packing and, in Sakura’s case, yelling faded into the background as her words echoed through my mind on repeat.

I bolted to my feet, my head whipping back and forth as I searched for anything to prove myself wrong.

There was nothing.

I stumbled backwards, tripping over my bedroll as my teammates as they called my name in confusion. I kept moving. I couldn’t give up. I _wouldn’t_ give up! There had to be something, somewhere that I could see. Even if it was just the smallest piece of light. Just something. I didn’t get far, instead running into something hard head first. I was knocked out cold before I ever hit the ground, my last thought being that, whatever it was I ran into, I really should have been able to see it.


	2. Keeping Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Thanks for all the kudos/bookmarks/and comments! I'm really happy to see my old fic getting a bit of new attention.
> 
> Now, i'm going to try to update about once or twice a week. It depends on the chapters i'm editing since some of them are much longer than others.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!
> 
> TBL

! ! ! !A FEW HOURS LATER! ! ! !

I woke up to the wonderful feeling of being dropped unceremoniously onto a hard, stone floor.

“Get up, dobe. We’re here,” I heard as my head popped up from the floor, looking around frantically.

There was nothing.

Panic gripped my chest as I remembered the events of my watch. How I sat in darkness for the entirely of it. How I hadn’t so much as seen the sun rise. How I hadn’t even seen whatever it was that knocked me out before I hit it.

I was blind. My sight was gone and I didn’t even know when I lost it.

“You’re going to have a lot of explaining to do once this is over,” Sakura said, snapping me out of my thoughts. I turned towards her voice on its own. “I don’t know why you freaked out this morning, and I don’t exactly care. But after having to carry your idiotic ass through the forest for the last several hours, we at least deserve an explanation.”

I nodded shakily, not trusting my voice at the moment. I could hear the distant in her voice as she spoke to me, like I was nothing more than an unwanted bug that she wasn’t allowed to smack with the fly swatter. I realized with a jolt that I meant nothing to her. She wanted nothing to do with me, and if I had to hazard a guess, neither did Sasuke. To them, I was only an abled bodied person that filled a hole in the team.

If they knew I couldn’t see, then I wouldn’t even be that.

I couldn’t tell them.

“Right now we have bigger problems to worry about, like what this plaque means,” she continued, her footsteps treading lightly away on the stone floor.

I nodded though I was fairly certain she wasn’t looking my way any longer. It hurt seeing how little they thought of me. But that wasn’t something I could dwell on now. I had to make sure they didn’t so much as suspect I couldn’t see. It was going to be hard, to say the least, but I had one thing on my side. My teammates would never suspect it.

First order of business was probably just to stay sitting wherever I was sitting. I had no idea where I was and stumbling around would be a dead giveaway. So just staying put was the best option.

“Get up,” Sasuke said, almost making me jump. I had forgotten he was there, let alone somewhere on my right. I wondered briefly if Spectacles was still there, but I only heard some Sakura’s footsteps and Sasuke’s complaints so I assumed not. Maybe he met up with his team? He said he’d probably find them again at the exit so that’s probably what happened.

“Um…I’m fine where I am, thank you very much,” I answered, getting back to the topic at hand when Sasuke used his foot to nudge me, none too gently, in the ribs. I sat up, pulling myself into a cross-legged position as I rubbed my side accusingly.

“Naruto!” Sakura yelled exasperatedly from a little way away. “Stop messing around and get up!”

“No.” I crossed my arms stubbornly.

“Naruto…” she hissed, her footsteps coming back towards me, almost making me fold.

“No. I’m sittin' right here until I darn well have to move and there’s nothin' you can do about it!”

There was silence for a long moment, not even the sound of Sakura’s footsteps breaking it.

“Why,” Sasuke asked, as monotone as ever.

I froze, realizing with a start that I hadn’t planned that far ahead. My mind raced, trying to come up with a plausible answer before the two jumped to the wrong conclusions. Or worse, the right one.

“Um…” I stalled, aiming my eyes at the floor in order to give myself one less thing to worry about. It didn’t help much. “Just because.”

“Naruto,” Sakura all but growled at me. I hadn’t realized she could make a sound like that before now. “Answer him!”

“Why should I?” I shot back.

“Because he’s Sasuke!”

“Does it look like I care?”

“He’s your teammate! You have to answer!”

“I don’t care if he’s the Hokage, I don’t need to tell him nothin'!” I declared loudly. Everything went silent again for a long moment.

Footsteps off to my right were my only warning before that emo bastard yanked me up by the front of my jacket so quickly I didn’t have a chance to get my feet back under me.

“Why,” he asked again, though it didn’t sound like much of a question, sounding a lot closer now than before. In fact, I doubted he could be any closer if he tried, at least not without reliving that horrible last day of the academy that we both had agreed _never happened._

“Because I don’t like you,” I answered, glaring at him.

“He meant why won’t you get up, you idiot!” Sakura shouted knocking me over the head with her fist. Her punches here hard not to recognize, though I don’t know when she had gotten close enough to punch me.

“Answer or Sakura will punch you again.”

Sakura’s knuckles cracked in anticipation nearby, making me gulp. I was surprised at what an intimidating force they were when they wanted an answer. Somehow I knew damn well if I didn’t give them a fake one now, they’d wrangle the real one out of me. Luckily I knew just the thing.

“Dizzy,” I mumbled to them, hoping not to get hit.

“What was that?” Sakura questioned.

“I’m dizzy, alright! I didn’t want to stand up and fall right over again.”

“Dizzy?” The bastard asked, sounding faintly disbelieving.

“I got hit in the head, of course I’m dizzy.”

“You mean _you_ hit the _tree_ hard.”

I had to practically bite my tongue off to keep from asking if it really was a tree. Somehow I didn’t think that would have gone over too well. Better to change the subject than continue and risk getting caught in the lie.

“Yeah whatever. I thought we were going to save the twenty questions until after the plaque thingy.”

“This was different,” Sasuke said as he dropped me back the floor.

“Hey! What was that for you duck-butt em—OW!” I yelled as Sakura’s fist made contact once again. “Sakura! Stop hitting me!”

“Stop insulting Sasuke and I will.”

“It’s not an insult if it’s true.”

“The plaque,” Sasuke broke in as I felt another one of Sakura’s fist past to the right of my head.

I…had no idea how she missed. I mean, I couldn’t even dodge at the moment. It was like hitting a stationary target. That she somehow missed. I was almost tempted to say something but I preferred life.

Instead I listened to my teammates as they tried to figure the plaque out without me. Feet tapping in the distance as they muttered amongst themselves, not including me in the brainstorming, which was perfectly fine since I couldn’t exactly read the damn thing.

Somehow they came to the conclusion that it was asking them to open the scroll. Seals broke before the sound of parchment rolling open faster than humanly possible filled the air. They started to fizz as Sasuke yelled to drop them. The wooden dowels and piles of paper clattered to the stone before a quiet pop filled the air briefly with the smell of smoke.

And then silence.

“Yo!” Kakashi’s unmistakable voice said happily.

“Kaka-sensei? What are you doing here?” I asked curiously.

“Iruka was supposed to be the one to explain all this, since he’s a chunnin and this is a cunnin exams, but the poor man he was unavoidably detained,” Kakashi explained. “Three of his students had been caught trying to prank all the clan compounds during school hours, so I’m filling in.”

“Really? That’s so cool!” I exclaimed. “It was Konohamaru’s group wasn’t it!”

“Yes, the infamous goggle brigade strikes again,” Kakashi answered, sounding amost amused.

“How far did they get?”

“Let’s see, they had set alarms clocks in the Nara compound that have been going off every five minutes and were caught trying to sneak flash bombs into the Hyuuga compound. They were also in possession of several suspicious prank looking items including bug spray, dog whistles, the makings for rope foot traps, and several bags of chips that were thought to be used as the bait.

“And on a completely unrelated topic,” Kakashi said, voice even more chipper. “Sasuke, I think you’re going to want to hire an interior decorator. Someone of mysterious origins snuck into your building while you’ve been gone and painted your entire apartment pink.”

“Why would someone do that?” Sakura demanded loudly, though I could barely hear her over my own laughter.

“Who knows?” Kakashi announced happily as I rolled around on the floor in laughter. He waited patiently until I calmed down enough to continue.

“Anyways, I’m here in his place to explain the meaning of the plaque.”

I zoned out as he continued, having a few more pressing issues on my mind that didn’t involve some mysterious plaque I couldn’t read.

My panic had lessened somewhat as the conversation went, more the longer my teammates didn’t figure out my secret. Sure, I hadn’t done anything difficult yet, but they hadn’t noticed. It was a good sign. It meant I had a chance at keeping this to myself.

I had thought about telling someone, like Kakashi or the Hokage, but that idea was pushed aside almost as fast as it came up. If I told anyone, they’d make me stop being a ninja, and I couldn’t just stop being a ninja. I was going to be Hokage one day, and I kinda needed to stay a ninja to do that. Not to mention, it could be very dangerous for me if my ninja status was revoked.

“Naruto!? Are you even listening?!” Sakura screeched, her voice hurting my ears and successfully snapping me out of my thoughts.

“What the hell Sakura? Are you TRYING to make me deaf?” I exclaimed back with a frown. That was just what I needed, my hearing gone right along with my sight.

“You’re not even listening. Why do you care?” she shot back.

“Now now you two, stop fighting,” Kakashi interrupted before I could say something back. He sounded amused, and maybe a bit suspicious. “Naruto, why weren’t you listening to the explanation?”

“Umm… it’s kinda confusing.”

“I’ll explain it better then. As a chunnin, you must work on what you are weak in. For instance, if you are strong in tijutsu and ninjutsu, and weak in strategy, then you must work on your thought process to fix it. And visa versa. Do you understand now?”

“Yeah, thanks Kaka-sensei!” I said, giving him one of my goofy grins from the floor. I didn’t see if he eyesmiled back, but I assumed he did.

“Now, would anyone care to explain why Naruto’s on the floor?” Kakashi asked.

I tensed, my mind blanking at what to say back. Luckily my teammate didn’t seem to have that problem.

“The idiot went crazy this morning and ran into a tree,” Sakura complained. “We had to carry him here after he knocked himself our and now that finally he’s awake, he’s dizzy.”

“Is that so?” Kakashi mused.

“Yeah, I’m an idiot,” I agreed, attempting to look at my sensei. An idea finally popped into my head, that might help explain things. “But I think it might have been a genjutsu some other team put on me.”

“Do you think that?”

“I was the only one on watch, so it kinda makes sense that they’d target me if they wanted to get an easy scroll.”

“Then why didn’t they?” Sakura asked, suspiciously. “We still have both our scrolls.”

“How am I supposed to know? I’m not them.” I shrugged, secretly proud of myself for coming up with something fairly believable on the fly.

“Fine, whatever. Not like I really care,” Sakura muttered.

“Alright! You three have an hour before you must meet in the testing room,” Kakashi said, his tone was quite chipper. “I suggest you pick up some food from the cafeteria.”

“Food! REAL food!” I exclaimed, throwing my arms into the air with such force that I knocked myself over.

“Kaka-sensei? Where is the cafeteria?” Sakura asked, only a little less excited then me.

“Does it have ramen?” I asked quickly, sitting back up.

“Right through the door over there,” Kakashi said, presumably pointing towards the door. “And yes, it has ramen.”

“Yes!” I exclaimed happily, flopping back to the floor in joy. Joy that swiftly flead when I realized I had no idea where the door he was referring to actually was.

“Thanks sensei!” Sakura said, obviously having no issues finding the door.

I felt jealous for a moment, before an idea came to mind at the sound of two sets of footsteps wandering away at a steady pace.

My teammates knew where the door was. In fact, they were heading there right now. I could hear which way they were going. Hell, I could probably guestimate how far it was by how many footsteps it took to get there.

I could still get my ramen!

“Hey Sasuke-kun, so you want to-” Sakura started to ask as I focused intently on their direction.

“No,” Sasuke immediately shot down.

“But I didn’t even-”

“No.”

“You’re not even listen-”

“No.”

“But Sasuke-kun-”

“No.”

Sakura was just starting to say something else when a telling creak of a door being opened announced my goal. It was only about twenty paces away. Easy. I sat up again, keeping my focus on where the door was located.

“Naruto.”

I jumped, almost forgetting Kakashi was still present.

“What?” I whined, more than a little annoyed. I wanted ramen and it was taking long enough to figure out how to get it without Kakashi stalling me.

“Mind if I ask you something?” He questioned.

“You just did, but sure,” I said.

“Are you blind?”


	3. Kakashi knows?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I'm back with another edited chapter from the archive. I think i'm going to stick with one chapter a week since that's really all i can handle editing wise.
> 
> Hope you enjoy,
> 
> TBL

“Huh?” I blinked, somehow completely stunned by the question. I thought I was doing a good job.

“Let me rephrase that, at what point, in between now and when I last saw you five days ago, did you lose your sight?” Kakashi asked again.

“Uh, sensei? Are you feeling well? I’m not blind. My vision is 20/20, like always,” I said with a cocky grin.

“Your eyes haven’t been tracking correctly and whenever a conversation starts you look at the floor,” he stated it, not buying it in the slightest.

“So? Maybe the floor looks better.”

“Naruto,” Kakashi said, his tone scolding.

“I’m not blind, Kaka-sensei! Come on! Would a blind person know where the door is? It’s right over there, by the way.” I pointed towards where I knew the door to be, hoping that would be enough to convince him.

“Maa maa, I guess you’re right. How silly of me,” Kakashi said. I was mentally patting myself on the back when he spoke again. “But I’m still a bit worried about you. So, how about this, if you answer my last question correctly, I’ll drop the whole thing, ok?”

“Yeah, sure. I’m sure I can answer whatever question you got,” I said confidently.

“How many fingers am I holding up?”

I froze at the question. I don’t think I could answer that one.

“Um…”I stalled for time so my brain could come up with something.

“Come on, if you can see as well as you say, this should be easy for you,” Kakashi prompted again.

“Uh, two?”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I am.”

“Too bad, it was four.”

“No, it wasn’t!”

“Yes, it was, see? 1, 2, 3, 4.” He matched each number with a tap on my nose using the different fingers.

“You must have switched them!” I accused.

“If I did, wouldn’t you have seen it?” His voice was closer now, like he was kneeling in front of me. I sighed, deflating upon realizing I was beat. “Now, care to answer my questions truthfully?”

“Yeah, I guess. But a couple things first,” I said. He answered with a small, passive sound that I interpreted as continue. “How did you know?”

“Other than your eyes not tracking?” I nodded. “I said there was ramen and you didn’t run to the door,” Kakashi answered flatly. “Instead you waited for your teammates to move first so the sound would tell you where it was. Pretty smart move, by the way.”

“Of course it was, ramen was on the line!” I smiled happily. “Speaking of which, let’s eat!”

“You’re supposed to be telling me what happened.”

“I can do that as I eat, can’t I?” I trying to use my puppy eyes on him. I wasn’t sure how well they would work but it was worth a shot. Anything was for ramen.

“Well, I guess…” Kakashi had started to say. Before he could finish, I was already on my feet and at the door, trying to find the doorknob. When I finally found the small, pieces of metal, I yanked them open only to fall face first into the next room.

The sound of the cafeteria was loud and disorienting after sitting in silence for so long. People chatting loudly as silverware clanked against bowls and plates. It was certainly more noise than my two teammates could accomplish on their own.

I covered my ears with my hands, but that didn’t help much. All it did was make the sound of chewing in my ears to turn into the sound of chewing right _next_ to my ears.

“Sensei, is he alright?” Sakura ask over the noise.

“Yeah, he’s fine,” Kakashi voice came from somewhere behind me. “He’s still unstable from that genjutsu I’d imagine. Plus, he just caught his first whiff of ramen in five days.”

I heard several “oh’s” and a few chuckles before they continued their conversations, though a bit quieter to my relief.

“Volume a bit much for you?” I heard my sensei whisper right next to me.

“They’re all mixing together.”

“I’d imagine so. I’m certain you will get used to it,” he said, trying to sound encouraging. “Anyways this place is packed so I’m just going to carry you to a secluded little table so we can chat.”

I tried to protest but before I could, I was already on his back being carted off to who knows where.

“Don’t worry, they won’t think anything of it after the explanation I gave,” Kakashi said.

“Your explanation sucked,” I pouted.

“But it was believable,” he said with an audible smirk.

“…I hate you.”

“Well, that’s nice,” he said setting me down in a wooden chair. A moment later the sound of wood scraping against stone indicated he sat across from me. “If that’s the way you feel, I might not want to go get you any ramen.”

“I didn’t mean it! It was a total lie! You’re my favorite sensei EVER!”

“Am I now?” He said, more than a little amused.

“Yeah! Definitely!” I said desperately. “Soo…do I get my ramen now?”

“I suppose,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m only grabbing two though.”

“But-”

“If I get any more you won’t have time to tell me everything.” His chair scrapped the floor again before I heard his footsteps walked past me. “Be right back.”

I lost track of him shortly thereafter as he disappeared into the cafeteria’s general chatter. It wasn’t as overwhelming now that I had gotten used to it, but I still couldn’t focus on any one noise. Anything could be going on in this room and I’d probably not notice, which was a bit of a problem.

“Here you go,” Kakashi said, placing something in front of me loud enough that I jumped. I hadn’t realized he was back yet. This only emphasized that there was, indeed, a problem with this situation. The thoughts didn’t linger as the smell of ramen hit my nose, making me realize what he brought back. “Chopsticks are right in front of you.”

“Thanks sensei!”

My hands stumbled a bit as I rushed to find the mentioned chopsticks and dig into my prize. Luckily, once I had them in hand, I didn’t have much of a problem eating. It may have been a bit surprising, if I wasn’t so focused on my food to care.

“Now Naruto, when did…this happen?”

“Don’t know,” I answered, my mouth half full. I swallowed before continuing. “When I went to sleep last night, my sight perfect. I woke up and it was gone. I didn’t know until Sasuke and Sakura yelled at me for not waking them up that something was wrong. I freaked and knocked myself out with a tree. Apparently, my teammates carried me here.”

“Was there anything strange that happened yesterday, like a cloud of smoke that only hit you or something like that?”

“No, all we did was knock out that other team while they were eating and stole their scroll. Then we traveled for a bit, made camp and ate some gross fish the bastard caught before falling asleep.”

“Any suspicious people that you guys came across?”

“No, not really. We did let this guy, Kabuto I think, travel with us while he looked for his team but he’s pretty harmless, for a ninja.”

Kakashi didn’t respond so I continued eating my food, letting him think. He was more likely to be able to figure this out than I was anyways. I had finished off the first and was halfway through the second before a thought struck me.

“Umm, sensei?” I asked quietly. He made a noise to tell me he’s listening. “Do…do you think that this is, permanent?”

There was silence for a long while, like he was unsure what to say.

“I don’t know,” he said eventually. “It’s possible but you’d have to be examined.”

“No.”

Kakashi paused again, this time a more surprised air tinging the silence.

“Why not?” He asked slowly.

“If I’m examined, they’ll tell the hokage and he’ll have to take away my ninja status,” I explained.

“That would be for the best. It would be too dangerous for you to be a ninja right now. Not with such a large handicap.”

“It’d be even worse if I wasn’t,” I muttered before I realized I had done so. I could almost feel the curious look Kakashi had aimed at me. I tried to ignore it.

“What do you mean?” he asked. I looked towards my bowl out of habit, stirring the chopsticks through the broth. Well, I assumed it was stirring the broth since I would occasionally feel a noodle bump into the chopstick. I stayed silent, hoping Kakashi would eventually drop it. That was not the case. “Naruto, answer me please.”

I sighed after a moment, relenting.

“You know the civilian laws about ninjas, right?” I asked quietly.

“If a civilian assaults a shinobi of the leaf or that from an allied village without provocation, they will be charged with treason, which is punishable by death. Yes, I know of it.”

“That’s the only thing keeping me safe right now,” I answered, voice barely above a whisper now. “If I was a regular citizen again, they would start shit again. Less consequences if they’re caught, I guess. And if it went public that I was blind? All the more easier for them.”

“I see,” he said after a bit.

“You won’t tell, will you?” I raised my head to look towards him.

“I don’t believe it’s necessary to put you at risk like that,” he said slowly.

“You mean?” I said, perking up.

“Yes, I’ll keep your secret,” he agreed. “But, only if you listen to my direct orders. For instance, if I say something is too dangerous, you won’t go charging in otherwise. Is that understood?”

“Hai!” I exclaimed, my excitement bubbling over.

“And I want a medical nin to examine you after we’re done here.”

“But-” I tried to protest, but Kakashi was already continuing.

“She’s a friend of mine that lives outside the village. I swear to you she won’t report back to the hokage,” he explained. I must have still looked weary since Kakashi continued speaking. “She’s trustworthy. I’ve known her for longer than you’ve been alive. If I ask her to keep it a secret, she will.”

“Well, if you can trust her, I guess I can too,” I said.

“Good,” Kakashi said, patting me briefly on the head. “Now finish up your ramen and we’ll get going. We’re supposed to be there in twenty minutes after all.”

“Yes sir!” I said with a mock salute as Kakashi chuckled at me. “But only if you get me more ramen.”

“If I get you anymore ramen, we could be late for the meeting.”

“And you care?”

“Not really, be right back.”


	4. Glitching Computer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your patience. I had some trouble getting this edited so it took me some extra time.
> 
> Also, quick note, the randomizing computer 'glitches' are originally from the Naruto abridged series. so yeah, not completely my creation but i did change some things about it.
> 
> hope you enjoy,
> 
> TBL

“YOU’RE LATE!” Sakura yelled, her voice coming from somewhere behind as Kakashi and I shunshined into the meeting place.

“Well, you see,” I started, “there was this blind man that got lost so me and Kaka-sensei had to make sure he got to where he was going safely.”

“We’re in the middle of a forest,” Shikamaru pointed out, sounding bored.

“I did say he was lost.”

“A Forest of _Death_.”

“He was very lost?”

“Troublesome,” he mumbled, barely heard underneath Sakura’s “LIAR!” If she only knew how close to the truth it was.

“Kakashi, I’d prefer if you saved the corrupting of your student until after the exams,” the Hokage said in exasperation. “At least then he’d have a fair chance of showing up on time.”

“I’ll try, hokage-sama, but it’s hard to convince a student to not mimic their role model,” Kakashi said sagely. I heard the other man sigh. “I mean, look at Gai and Lee.”

The mentioned duo started shouting each other’s names as they prepared their sunset genjutsu of death, I mean youth. At the sound of the traumatized/disgusted populous, I was suddenly a tiny bit glad I didn’t need to see it.

“Moving on. Naruto, if you could join the others I’ll get started,” the hokate stated. Unfortunately, I had no idea where I was supposed to go. I panicked for a moment, trying to figure out what to do.

“I’d rather not,” I said after a few seconds.

“And why is that?”

“Well, they’re kinda mad at me so if I go over there, they could hurt me,” I explained. There was silence after that, probably from confusion.

“They had to carry him back because he knocked himself out with a tree,” Kakashi continued for me.

“A tree?!” Ino exclaimed. “How the hell do you knock yourself out with a TREE?!”

“It’s a talent.” I did an imaginary hair flip for dramatic reasons. “And I’m not sharing!”

“Why would anyone want to-” Ino was about to continue when the Hokage cut her off.

“Ok, that’s enough. If you feel more comfortable where you are then you may stay. It doesn’t matter much anyways.”

“Thanks jiji!” I heard a few people make disapproving sounds at that, but I didn’t really care.

“Now, before we get started, let me just say that from here on out, you will not be working in teams. So when I say you have the option to drop out, your personal choice will not affect your teammates.

“But before we get to that, I must announce that due to the number of you that passed the second test, we are going to have to run a preliminary test as soon as I’m done. So if any of you feel as if you are not up to a one-on-one fight then please withdraw from the exam.”

Kakashi nudged me as two of the other contestants dropped out. The first guy kinda sounded like the spectacles man we ran into. The second was announced to be some kid from Taki, who broke his leg while in the forest. The whole time, that poor kid’s teammates were shouting at him to “come back and face it like a man”, or at least the feminine sounding one was. Not sure how she thought her teammate could fight while on a pair of crutches but, then again, that wasn’t my problem.

“You should drop too,” Kakashi whispered, snapping me back to the present. “You’re not ready for this yet.”

“I can do it.”

“Naruto-”

“I can do it sensei.” There was a disapproving silence before I spoke up again. “At least let me see who my opponent is.”

He thought it through for a few seconds.

“Alright, but if I say it’s too difficult then you forfeit. Ok?”

“I guess, but that’s not going to be a problem. I can handle anyone they throw at me, datteboyo!”

I could hear him chuckle as a set of double doors closed with a thud.

“Is there anyone else that wishes to leave?” the hokage asked, when no one spoke up, he continued, going into this long spiel about war, or war substitute or something like that. Again, I wasn’t really listening, opting to try and figure out how to keep my eyes a secret.

Kakashi said earlier (during my fifth bowl of ramen to be exact), that only a blind man, or ANOTHER blind man, would be unable to see that my eyes weren’t tracking. I mean, I can’t keep my eyes shut forever, it would eventually get me into trouble, especially considering I doubt my opponent would like it.

As I thought this, I was vaguely aware of the hokage’s speech being interrupted by Gai shouting something about saving some poor kids “Flames of Youth” before his “eternal rival” could do anymore damage. It wasn’t until a hand landed on my shoulder that I was shocked out of my thoughts.

“No need to worry, I shall make sure your Flames of Youth stay bright! And if I fail, I’ll-”

“Did you say something?” I asked, unknowingly parroting my sensei’s line.

“NO! IT’S TOO LATE! HIS COOL, HIP ATTITUDE HAS ALREADY SPREAD!!!”

Kakashi snickered as the Hokage tried to gain back control of the room.

“…And now, on with the preliminaries,” he announced, getting everyone’s attention once again. “Each match will be chosen randomly by our randomizing computer. As long as it doesn’t glitch.”

The last part was said at a whisper which made me curious to what he meant. Even more so when my sensei started chuckling at it. After it was announced that Sasuke and this other dude I didn’t know were up first, Kakashi shunshined the pair of us somewhere else.

“We’re on the balcony above the arena,” Kakashi explained over the sounds of everyone else taking the stairs up.

“Ok. Hey, why does that computer thingy glitch? If it’s such a great piece of technology, they shouldn’t have a problem with it, right?” I asked, only making my sensei chuckle more. “And why do you find it so funny?”

“It was created about fifteen, sixteen years ago by the Fourth,” Kakashi started.

“The Fourth Hokage?”

“No, the fourth ramen stand owner,” Kakashi said, sarcasm strong in his words. “Yes, the Fourth Hokage, back before he was Hokage. He was a great seal master and that thing runs entirely on seals.”

“Ok?”

“Well there were only three seal users in the village, one being the Fourth, another was his sensei, while the last was a…close friend of his,” Kakashi said. “Now, what you have to understand about this friend is that she was one hell of a prankster. You would be considered little more than an amateur in her eyes.”

“Why haven’t I heard of her? Where is she now?”

“Unfortunately she died the same night as the forth,” he explained. I looked towards the ground. I knew that was just a nice way of saying that it was during the Kyuubi attack. “But not without leaving a few things to be remembered by.”

“Like what?” I glanced back up towards him, curious once again.

“Well, for one, that computer,” he said. I gave him an odd look and he continued. “When the Forth was making it, this friend decided to _help_ him. So one night he was out on a mission she snuck into his house and made a few adjustments. Now whenever it’s used a few, unexpected pairing pop up. It will sometimes go as far as alter the names of some of the contestants. Needless to say it has been a pain in the Third’s side for years.”

“Then how do you know all that?”

“The Fourth was my sensei. I had to listen to him complain about it for months afterwards. Why are you gawking at me like that?”

“The Forth was your sensei?!”

“Didn’t I say so before?”

“NO!”

“Maa maa, anyways I had to listen to him complain for a long time after that, especially considering neither he nor his sensei, Jiraiya, could fix it,” Kakashi stated.

“Why not?”

“She was from a very elite clan that specialized in sealing,” he told me.

I wanted to know more, all of this sounded so interesting. I was about to ask another question when I was interrupted.

“We can talk more on this later,” Kakashi said. “You should really be supporting your teammate during his fight.”

“He’s fighting?”

“For the past two minutes.”

“Oh well, it’s not like I can watch,” I said quietly. “Hey, won’t people know if I’m not watching the fight?”

“Hmm, good question.”

He sat there quietly for a moment before he spoke up again.

“Ah, here.” I heard him rustling through a pack before he pulled something out. “Catch.”

I held my hand out just in time to catch whatever he threw. After further examination I found it to be a book.

“If you pretend to read it, people will think you’re distracted.”

“It’s not that pervy book, is it?” I held the book gingerly, ready to drop it at a moments notice.

“If I gave you one of those, we’d both get killed, whether you could read it or not,” he said, sounding suspiciously seriously.

“So, what is it?”

“It’s from the same author as my Icha Icha books. It’s his only non-perverted book entitled ‘Tale of the Gutsy Ninja.’ You’d probably like it.

“Ok, as long as it’s not going to get me hit,” I agreed wearily, opening the book to a random page so to look busy.

“The book itself won’t, but your inattention might,” Kakashi said with a bit of amusement in his voice. Before I could reply, there was a crash followed by a loud cheer for most of the female onlookers.

“Let me guess, Sasuke won,” I deadpanned right before they announced that I was right.

“Good guess,” Kakashi praised. “Now stay right there until I get back. I have to take care of something for Sasuke. If you’re called up before I get back, be smart about it. If it sounds like a challenge, then back out.”

“I can take anyone!”

“Maybe you could before, promise me that if you come up against a strong opponent, back out.”

“Alright, I promise.”

“Now, no breaking your promise, after all if you do that you’d be breaking your nindo as well.”

“I won’t break my nindo! Datteboyo!”

“Just making sure.”

I stuck my tongue out at him before focusing back on the book. I could hear him chuckle again before he poofed away. After a moment, I heard him speaking faintly from the ground level.

Once the floor was cleared they announced that Katsu, some guy from Taki, was versing Shino. Well, after they convinced Gai that the Flames of Youth was not a legitimate competitor so it would not be competing against the lesser known Fire Extinguisher of Fate.

I laughed. Whoever was the mastermind behind this was a pranking genius! If I was still pranking, I would definitely take this as a challenge. A trick that epic would be a great thing to aim for. But I had promised Jiji that I’d stop once I was a ninja, so I had. For the most part anyways.

But that didn’t mean I couldn’t _plan_ a few. Just for fun and all since I could watch the fights below me. Unfortunately, Shino’s fight was over so quickly that I had only come up with a few before he had used his bugs to suck enough chakra out of his opponent that he passed out.

Across the room, I heard some chick laughing hysterically. She yelled something about wondering why his name didn’t assure his victory like he said it would.

The matches went relatively quickly after that. Kankuro beat the human rubber band, Sakura and Ino decided to just knock each other out instead of actually doing anything. I sighed in relief since that meant I would finally get a reprieve from their screeching. It was already starting to bother me worse than I thought possible.

I found it a bit strange that everyone else was giving a verbal play by play of the matches but I wasn’t going to complain.

I listened to Tenten’s humiliating defeat by Temari, a bit disappointed for her sake. I didn’t know Tenten well but her summoning scroll style sounded really cool. She hadn’t deserved such a defeat.

“Naruto! Why are you reading?” Sakura yelled at me once it was over. I hid a flinch in my book at both the suddenness of her appearance and how loud she was shouting into my ear. “You’re supposed to be watching the matches!”

“Who’s fighting?” I asked, not looking up from the book.

“Shikamaru and…I’m not sure. Some girl from sound with bells as weapons.”

“Nothing important then,” I stated.

Sakura growled, giving me the sudden urge to duck as a result. No sooner had I done so, I feel a woosh go over my head.

“Hey! You’re not supposed to _duck_!”

“Wouldn’t need to if you hadn’t tried to hit me,” I said with a pout. I had to fight the urge to look up at her. Instead I continued to stare at the book in an attempt to look preoccupied with the story.

“Where did you get the book anyways?” She questioned after a moment.

“Kakashi.” This time there was no warning before I got wacked upside the head for no reason.

“Naruto! How dare you read that trash!”

“It’s not trash,” I said as I rubbed my sore head. “Read the title.”

I flashed the cover at her before making like I was reading it again, turning the page for good measure.

“Oh. And why are you reading a book when you never willingly _touched_ one in your life?”

“Kakashi said to. Something about freaking Gai out,” I said quickly, hoping she wouldn’t come up with any more questions. Luckily I was saved from such a fate by someone clearing their throat behind us.

“Yo, Sakura. I heard you had your match already. How was it?” Sensei asked, effectively shutting her up.

“Well, it wasn’t that bad-”

“Her vs. Ino. Both of them made this huge deal out of it only for it to end in a double knock out,” I said simply getting a growl from her in the process.

“You should be proud of yourself,” Kakashi praised her. “A tie is no small feat.”

“I wouldn’t exactly call it a tie,” I mused behind my book. “It was closer to a double loss. To Ino of all people.”

“Naruto-” Sakura growled

She was about to berate me about that when Shika was announced as the winner.

“’Bout time. Thought it would take forever.”

“He is a Nara. They use their mind instead of their fists so it tends to run a little on the long side,” Kakashi answered.

“If you insist,” I said with a shrug. “Alright! Who’s next?”

“Well, it’s not Clucky vs. the Log.”

“What?” both of us asked.

“If the two of you stop bickering and focus on the task at hand, you would have noticed the quite humorous glitch on the randomizing computer screen. It clearly states that the next opponents are Clucky vs. The Log.”

Sakura was silent as I laughed so hard, I almost couldn’t breath.

“Why?” I barely was able to get out between laughs.

“She and one of the Uchihas had an argument back at the academy about which was stronger, a chicken or our ever present, substitution log. It eventually evolved into what everyone liked to call, Clucky vs. The Log.”

“Which side did she take?” I asked, after my laughter finally calmed down some.

“Clucky, of course.”

“Do you think _any_ Uchiha would know about this argument?”

“Probably not. It wasn’t exactly this Uchiha’s proudest moment, I must say.”

“Would _Sasuke_ know about it?”

“Maybe. It was his father after all.”

I could feel the foxlike grin spreading across my face as I put my book down for a moment.

“CLUCKY WILL WIN!”

“Naruto, Sasuke is unconscious in a hospital room at the moment,” Kakashi said flatly. “He can’t possibly hear you.”

“Damn, and I wanted to start that up again.” I brought my book up to look at it. “Is Jiji done with his hissy fit yet? I wanna know who’s next.”

“Naruto! The Hokage doesn’t have hissy fits, you idiot!”

“If someone’s cursing something out it’s usually called a hissy fit, right?” I asked innocently. “At least I thought so. I wasn’t aware that the term would change if it was the Hokage doing the swearing.”

“Hokage-sama would do no such thing!”

“I can hear him swearing from here!”

“He does look pretty upset,” Kakashi backed me up. I heard Sakura take in a breath, getting ready to yell something, when the hokage cleared his throat.

“Next match please,” he almost pleaded, definitely sounding selfconscious about the whole thing.

I listened to the computer click as it no doubt thought through the possible selections. The clicking eventually slowed to a stop and the competitors were announced.

“The Amazing, Most Badass, Uzumaki Naruto vs. ‘barking mad’ Inuzuka Kiba.”

“Yes!” I accidentally throwing my book into the air due to my excitement. I never heard it hit the floor, but I didn’t really bother with enough to wonder why. “About damn time!”

I went to jump over the rail in front of me when a hand dropped onto my shoulder, stopping me.

“Naruto, I don’t think you’re ready for this,” Kakashi stated sternly.

“Oh, come on sensei!” I whined.

“He’s too strong for you.”

“Like hell he is!” I exclaimed. “You heard the computer, I’m the most badass! I can handle him!”

“He is right now,” Kakashi ignored my secondary statement and continued. “You need to forfeit.”

“No.”

“Naruto-”

“No. I’m fighting Kiba and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.” There was a pause in the conversation before he continued.

“We’ll see about that.”


	5. Naruto vs. Kiba

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, thank you for your patience. The last few months have been very hectic IRL and I haven't really had the time (or state of mind) to work on editing all this. (particularly since this chapter is a long fight scene in a style i no longer write fight scenes in.) Anyways, here's the new chapter.
> 
> Hope you enjoy,
> 
> TBL
> 
> ps. Small note, if this chapter seems improbable, please remember this is an almost-crack fic and not everything that happens is very probable. Also I wrote this particular scene was written probably about eight years ago. I had a lot different idea of what was probable at that time.

Kakashi looked at the boy, seeing the stubborn glint in his eyes that he knew was nothing but trouble. He would not win this argument, but then again, he didn’t exactly need to. Kakashi took hold of Naruto’s arm and shinshuned down to the hokage’s platform below.

“Hokage-sama. Naruto’s not fit to fight Kiba. I ask that you withdraw him from this test,” Kakashi said, keeping a strong grip on the boy’s arm as he struggled.

“How so?” The Hokage questioned after a long moment.

“I believe he’s suffering from a concussion at the very least. He’s still very dizzy to the point he was having trouble standing only half an hour ago.”

“Hmm, you don’t say. Don’t you think it’s a bit late to be bringing this up?”

Kakashi was confused as he shot a questioning look towards the still wiggling boy before turning back to the hokage. “After all, he’s already on the floor.”

The man’s lone eye got wide as he looked back at the floor to see a grinning Naruto. Then he looked at the boy he had, who had just stopped fighting long enough to acquire that same grin before poofing out of existence.

“Begin!” the proctor shouted as his student’s smile widened. Kakashi could only watch and hope his brat knew what he was doing.

! ! ! !FEW MINUTES EARLIER! ! ! !

I waited for Kakashi to poof away before coming out of my hiding spot behind Choji, who was conveniently walking by at the time.

“Thanks man.”

“No problem,” he said, munching on his ever-present bag of chips.

I reached out, finding the railing first try to my excitement, before hopping over it. It wasn’t until I was probably halfway down that I realized I had no idea where the floor was. I found it a split second later, immediately face-planting straight into the tile.

“Did he knock himself out again?” Kiba asked incredulously. “Does that mean I win?”

“I’m good,” I called, climbing back to my feet.

“Damn it,” Kiba cursed from somewhere in front of me. I kept Kiba’s location in mind as I hurried towards the sound of our proctor coughing.

“Are you afraid to face me, Kiba?” I asked once I turned to face him. I heard him start to say something but I interrupted him. “Who am I kidding, of course you are. Hey proctor, can we get this started? I’m on a bit of a time limit here.”

“Eager to get you butt whooped?”

“Yeah, right! I could defeat you blindfold. Datteboyo!”

“Begin!” the proctor shouted over our banter.

“Time to put your money where your mouth is,” Kiba said as I heard his feet shift on the floor. Figuring he was moving into some sort of fighting stance; I did the same.

“Don’t know why I’d do that. I’d rather eat ramen.”

There were a couple quick steps before something that sounded suspiciously like jumping. I had no time to figure out what that meant before a fist connected with my face, knocking me to the floor.

I climbed to my feet slowly, taking note that I really should move whenever the guy’s feet left the ground.

“Is that all you got, dog breath?” I grinned like a madman just to throw him off. “Konohamaru hits harder than you.”

“Ya know, I was going to be nice and let you think you had a fighting chance. But now, I think I’m just going to finish you off.”

“I didn’t want your charity anyways.”

“NINJA ART: BEAST MIMICRY!” Kiba shouted as his hands thudded to the ground, making me wonder what he was up to.

“Here I come,” Kiba said, his voice sounding on the verge of a growl.

He had to have done some sort of visual transformation I couldn’t see, judging by the several shocked gasps I was picking up from the crowd. Some of them even had the audacity to say I was going to lose. I was about to correct them when I heard Kiba’s feet…and hands, leave the ground. In the time it took me to wonder what he was doing, I was hit with a shoulder into my gut.

I went flying across the room hitting the stone floor hard. I blinked, trying to get my bearings. It was difficult without being able to see but the sound of Kiba trying to tell the proctor to end the match certainly helped. It just annoyed me that the idiot proctor was actually considering it.

Climbing to my feet, I continued to use Kiba’s conversation to get a fix on his location so I could knock him to the ground. Using the momentum to roll past him and into a crouch nearby. I was probably facing away from him but it wasn’t like it mattered.

“Don’t underestimate me, asshole,” I grumbled. It must have taken them all by surprise since the only answer I got was an echoing silence “I thought I told you not to take it easy on me.”

Kiba growled, no doubt glaring at my back.

“Fine! If that’s how you want it. Akamaru! To me!”

A set of small, padded feet rushed to their master’s side. I stood up, turning to face him.

“You’re bringing your puppy into this? Seriously?” I asked, trying to tick him off.

“This _puppy_ is what’s going to be your downfall,” Kiba growled, telling me I was certainly succeeding. “Let’s get him Akamaru!”

The two charged at me, their feet leaving the groud for a moment before they started running. Something hit the ground at my feet, making a poofing sound before the air filled with the smell of smoke. It took me longer than I’d like to admit to figure out it was a smoke pellet trying to obscure my vision. I couldn’t help but chuckled at the thought.

Something told him to duck, like with Sakura earlier. Considering it hadn’t led me wrong yet, I listened and felt something swish past over my head. A split second later, I was told to move again. This time I dodged to the side, the sound of a pair of teeth clamping together right where my arm used to be.

It took a lot of dodging before I figured out what was warning me. It wasn’t some sixth sense I suddenly developed or anything. It was just my other four senses that I normally never paid attention to in a fight, indicating that I was in danger. A whisper of fabric as Kiba moved, the taste of smoke thickening or thinning as the air disturbed, even just the smell of dog as Akamaru neared. It all told me exactly where the duo were, and how to avoid them.

After a while, Akamaru and Kiba stopped attacking, opting to stand, panting in front of me. The smoke started to fade as I laughed.

“How?” Kiba asked, still panting.

“How what?”

“How did you…avoid us?”

“I’m a ninja,” I answered condescendingly. I had no idea where this was going myself, but I figured I could at least mock him while I got there.

“So?”

“Ninjas fight ninjas,” I said, my mind finally coming up with something good. “And ninjas are supposed to be stealthy so just fighting with your eyes is stupid. You should agree with me.”

Kiba made a confused sound but otherwise didn’t answer me.

“You use your nose a lot.”

“How?”

“How what? How do I know? Well you were always complaining about random smells back in the academy so it makes sense,” I said with a nod.

“You literally just came up with that, didn’t you?”

“Uh, enough about that! It’s my turn!” I smirked evilly before crossing my index fingers. “SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!”

There was something effecting my chakra control, what little I had of it anyways. There was an extra strain on my chakra, even with only ten clones I made. Whatever that long-haired bastard did to me the other day was still messing with me. I really should get that looked at. But it wasn’t time for that, right now I had to focus on the fight.

I knew my clones matched my grin without having to see it as I charged towards our enemy. Of course, none of the clones could see either but it was strange, every time Kiba and Akamaru made one poof away, it made it easier to find them both. I was a little curious about it but figured I could use it now, and figure it out later.

So I made more clones, spamming the field despite the extra chakra strain. I was going to win this fight even if it was the last thing I do. I needed to prove that I could, to Kakashi and to myself. I wasn’t going to let something like a stupid lack of eyesight hold me back.

I lashed out where the clones told me where they were, making contact with something fluffy. I had no idea if it was Akamaru or just Kiba’s jacket, but I grabbed it anyways. A dog yelped, making me smirk. I didn’t particularly like hurting Kiba’s puppy, but if it helped me win the match, I had no choice.

“Give up, Kiba!” I demanded, holding up the dog by it’s paws. I thought they were his front paws but there was no real way of knowing.

“Or what? You’ll hurt my dog?”

“Not if you give up!”

“Akamaru can take care of himself!” His bag rustled like he was searching for something in it. “Akamaru! Catch!”

Something wised through the air, Akamaru catching whatever it was in his jaws. The dog started growling, his fur becoming spikier in my grasp. I lost my grip, dropping him to the floor. His paws darted to his master’s side, right before there was a poof of a transformation.

“MAN-BEAST CLONE!”

Judging by the gasp from the audience, something happened visually that shocked the peanut gallery enough to be vocal about it. Not that _that_ was particularly hard. I acted shocked like every one else despite having no idea what was actually so surprising.

I prepared for whatever it was to the best of my ability, creating a bunch of clones just as a set of feet left the ground. I had most of them surround me like a shield as my opponent ran my way. I could tell there was something off with their footsteps but I couldn’t figure out what.

My clones started disappearing rapidly, each by the vague impression of being punched by Kiba despite being nowhere near the others. It was then that I realized what was wrong. There were no paw steps. Just two sets of Kiba sized footsteps.

I suppose that was what the transformation was.

A fist connected with my stomach, throwing me into the cement wall behind me. I could feel it give way a bit behind me, my back exploding in pain. That punch was five times as strong as before.

“I told you this would be over before you could even give up,” Kiba said, so confident in his own words that I was even I thought about believing him. Just for a moment. “But just to make sure you aren’t going to get back up again…”

Kiba went quiet, his feet shifting across the ground as I tried to get moving again.

“FANG OVER FANG!”

I had no idea what that meant, but I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like it, particularly if he had such confident in that technique.

An unbelievable force hit me in the chest, cracking several of my ribs in the process. The wall cracked further as my breath was knocked out of my lungs. My chest ached as I fell to the ground. I laid there for a while, my head spinning, all sounds were muddier than they had been a second ago. I could hardly hear Kiba as he talked to the proctor again.

But I couldn’t give up now. Not after everything that’s happened. Hell, I’ve went through more today then my whole life leading up to this. Maybe. And it was all for my spot as chunin. There’s no way I was going to let some mutt take it away! So before the proctor could call the match, I struggled to my feet even though I could barely breath.

“What are you doing? Just give it a rest, will yah?” Kiba demanded. I winced as my hearing snapped back into focus just in time for his shouting. “You’ve already been beaten and you know it!”

“Not yet,” I struggled to say through gritted teeth. I coughed, pain shooting through my chest like it was being stabbed.

“You can’t even breath right anymore,” Kiba grumbled. “Just give up. I don’t want to seriously hurt you.”

“No,” I said, glaring his way. I wanted to say more, to give him a long rant about never giving up, but I just couldn’t right now.

“Naruto! Stop being stupid!” Sakura screeched from the stands.

“I’m not done!” I shouted back, coughing again, blood flooding my mouth this time around. I had to end this quickly. If I passed out then this would have all been for nothing. I put my hands back up in my favorite hand sign.

“If that’s the way you want to do this, then fine! But I’m not letting you attack again,” Kiba shouted. “FANG OVER FANG!”

The pair flew through the air again towards me. I smirked, preforming a quick substitution with a hidden hedged clone from earlier. There was a shout of surprised rage as my clone poofed out of existance. That plus the added bonus of the clone’s knowledge helped me figure out where I was compared to him.

It was over now.

“Shadow clone jutsu,” I whispered, unable to shout as I’d like. But the lack of volume didn’t limit the number of clones I created. I made as many as I could, probably somewhere between fifty and a hundred. A little bit of a disappointment but considering my injuries and screwy chakra, I didn’t have much to complain about.

It would be enough for this.

“Sick ‘em,” I ordered quietly, but they all got the message as a hundred sets of feet charged forward.

At first most of what I heard was just poofs as more clones were taken out than were landing hits. But it quickly became the other way around as the poofed clones’ knowledge helped the others locate their opponent. Soon enough the pair was thrown out of the ring and didn’t get back up.

“Time out,” the proctor called.

Footsteps echoed through the room as they walked towards where Kiba had fallen. After a moment they spoke again.

“Kiba is unconscious and therefore cannot continue the match. The winner is Uzumaki Naruto!”

I smiled broadly as a cheer went up around the room. Sure, it was mostly just my clones celebrating but they weren’t the only voices I picked out. I could hear Choji, Iruka-sensei, and even Shikamaru and Hinata. Maybe. I wasn’t quite sure about the last two but it felt nice to include them anyways.

For some reason that Taki girl from before was shouting louder than them all.

“Now that was a fight! Take notes you losers!” She yelled.

My clones then poofed out of existence, leaving me with nothing but a sense of overwhelming exhaustion.

It was also about then that my body remembered that it was supposed to be in pain and decided it didn’t want to stand anymore. My knees buckled, falling forward. I winced, preparing to hit the ground when an arm reached around my torso to keep me from falling.

I yelped, pain lancing through my chest yet again. Before I could try to flinch away and inevitably making it worse, the arm shifted to my shoulders so to sit me gently on the floor.

“Good job, Naruto,” Kakashi said from nearby. It wasn’t that far of a stretch to guess he was the one to help me. He even sounded sort of proud. “You did well, considering.”

“Thanks,” I tried to say only to start coughing again.

“Let’s get you to a medic.”

“Ok,” I rasped out once I got some breath back.

The arm disappeared, only for him to scoop me up to carry me away. He made sure to keep one arm on my shoulder so there was as little pressure on my ribs as possible, which I appreciated.

“We’ll take him from here,” a voice said off to my left.

A new hand appeared, trying to take me from him, only to do so by touching my already hurt torso. I yelped again as Kakashi stepped back and out of the arm’s reach.

“I got him. No need to worry yourself,” Kakashi said simply. “Just show me where to go.”

“Follow the stretcher,” they said.

“Will do.”

That was the last I really heard before starting to doze off. I was vaguely aware that we had started to move, and that Kakashi had been stopped soon after to speak with a few people.

The next thing I knew I was lying on some sort of fluffy board, or a very uncomfortable hospital bed. At first, I thought I was alone, but a pair of hands touched my ribs, radiating some serious heat. I flinched away, immediately panicking and trying to getaway.

“Calm down, Naruto. It’s just the medic,” Kakashi said, his voice relatively close by. I nodded tentatively, but I must have still looked tense because Kakashi continued. “Medic, can you give me a few minutes. I’ll let you know when he’s calmed down.”

“If you insist,” the said, sounding less than thrilled about it. The hands disappeared, footsteps leading away before a door clicked shut. I relaxed knowing the man had finally left the room.

“He was trying to help you, you know.”

“He surprised me,” I said after a moment. Speaking was already easier even though it couldn’t have been much time since then. “I didn’t think anyone was there.”

“I figured as much,” Kakashi said nicely.

“Um…How long was I out?”

“Only a couple minutes.”

“Oh, ok,” I said. I was quiet for a bit before a thought struck me. “What did the medic do?”

“He only had time to keep your ribs from piercing your lungs.”

“He…didn’t get near my eyes, right?”

“Not in the slightest.”

“Good,” I said, letting out of a breath I didn’t know I was holding. I thought for a long moment before speaking again. “Are they going to find out? If they continue to treat me?”

“No, they’re much more worried about your ribs, not your eyes,” Kakashi said simply. I heard a faint rustle of fabric but didn’t think much of it. “But as for the rest of the world, I believe I’ve come up with an appropriate solution.”

“Really? What?” I said, barely making it sound like a question at all. I was already starting to feel tired again, whatever that was keeping me awake starting to fade.

“This,” was my only answer before he slipped something over my head until it came to rest over my eyes. I touched it, feeling around the smooth edges of the object.

“Are they…goggles?”

“Yep,” Kakashi said, I could practically hear him smiling. “But not just any goggles. They once belonged to a very close friend of mine, my old teammate in fact. He was the one that first told me those who don’t protect their friends are worse than trash.”

“That’s nice. I still have my own,” I murmured, my eyes already starting to shut.

“I know, but I figured you’d like this pair as well,” he told me, happily. “That, and I think he’d like the fact they’re being used again. Especially when it’s by someone with such a similar nindo to his own.”

“But-“

“And they’re orange.”

“Really?”

“Yep, the lenses are orange so when you get your sight back, you’ll be seeing everything through an orange hue.”

“Cool,” I said, trying to sound excited through my exhaustion.

“Go to sleep, Naruto. You need your sleep.”

“But-“

“You’re safe here. No one will find out about your eyes while you sleep.”

“Ok,” I muttered. The next thing I knew, I was out.


	6. Hospital

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto wakes up in the hospital.

! ! ! !ONE DAY LATER! ! ! !

My eyes snapped open, the sight of absolutely nothing sending me into a panic. I shot up straight, searching for several seconds for anything I could see before remembering what happened. I took a slow breath to calm myself, trying to ignore the small ache that started behind my eyes.

I shook my head, forcing myself to focus on more important things. For one, my ribs felt much better than they were last time I checked. Pressing a hand against them only caused a small bit of pain, nothing like before. That was the good news.

The bad news was that in addition to my eyes still not seeing anything, my chakra was still pretty messed up. Neither of which I could actually do anything about right now. All I could really do was rest and hope it would fix itself with a little sleep.

I laid back down in the hopes of doing just that when a realization struck me.

This wasn’t my bed.

I had no idea where I was, but it certainly wasn’t my bed. And these weren’t my clothes. They were thin and scratchy, with short sleeves and quite possibly no pants. It was hard to tell with the stiff sheets covering me. But it almost felt like a hospital gown.

Between the new clothes and the strong smell of antiseptic, it wasn’t that hard to guess where I was. I really should have known I’d end up in the hospital after those wounds. But I was definitely not staying there.

Tossing my sheets aside, I climbed out of bed only to get yanked back towards it by something attacked to my elbow. I stood unsteadily by the bed as I used my opposite hand to figure out what it was. Whatever it was, had hurt when it got yanked, almost like it was imbedded. It was taped down and attached to a thin, rubber tube that went up.

It was an IV. A stupid IV was keeping me from escaping in a timely manner. Well, it wasn’t going to be keeping me there for much longer.

I had only just started picking at the tape when a larger hand stopped me. I yelped, frantically pulling away and back onto the bed until I knocked my head against the wall. 

“Naruto, it’s just me,” Kakashi’s voice said, immediately calming me down. “You’re going to have to work on not being startled like that if you want to keep this a secret.”

“I wasn’t startled!” I protested, only to get poked in the sore spot I just created on my head.

“You sure? You looked startled to me,” he said, sounding more amused than anything.

“I just…I don’t like hospitals,” I mumbled, rubbing the spot on my head until the ache went away. There was still a dull pain behind my eyes but I could ignore it. “It smells funny.”

“I can certainly agree with that assessment,” he stated. I was fairly certain he wasn’t convinced that was my only reason but was going to let it slide anyways. There was a small squeak of a chair off to my right as, I assume, he sat back down in it. “So, about that test of yours.”

“I don’t see what we need to talk about,” I pouted. “I won. It’s done now.”

“Not entirely. You weren’t listening to the explanations before the match, were you?”

“Um…in my defense I had a lot on my mind,” I answered sheepishly.

“Those were the preliminaries,” Kakashi explained regardless. “You have exactly one month to train for the finals.”

“WHAT? I have to fight _more_? That’s not fair! Everyone’s already seen my best moves!”

“That’s why you have a month to train. It’s giving you time to come up with better moves.”

“I guess that makes sense,” I muttered, earning some small, exasperated noises from my sensei. “So, Kaka-sensei, what awesome jutsus are you going to teach me?”

“I’m not,” he said simply. I blinked, trying to figure out if he was joking. “I will be training Sasuke for his match against one of the Suna shinobi.”

“But that’s not fair! Why are you training him but not me?!”

“His opponent is quite a bit more dangerous than yours,” Kakashi pointed out. “While your opponent is dangerous in some respects, he, at least, does not seem to want to kill whoever he faces off against. This is why the council has requested I train him personally over the next month. And since you are in the competition as well, it would not be fair if you both trained under the same sensei.”

“Oh,” I said, taking a moment to think on what was said. “He…killed his last opponent?”

“No, but it was very close. Rock Lee is in intensive care at the moment.”

“Oh,” I repeated as I looked down towards the bed. I felt bad for the spandex wearing ninja. He was cool. In his own weird way. “Does that mean I’m going to have to train myself?”

“Of course not,” Kakashi said, sounding cheerful again. “I wouldn’t leave one of my cute little genin hanging like that. I was able to call in a favor or two and got you a teacher for the month.”

“And how’s that supposed to help?” I asked, looking back towards him as I pointedly waved a hand in front of my face. “Can’t see what they’re teaching and I doubt I can convince another person to stay quiet about it.”

“Ah yes, we haven’t yet found out if your…situation is permanent, have we?” he said, though it didn’t exactly sound like a question.

“Seems pretty permanent to me,” I muttered.

Kakashi sighed as the chair scrapped across the tile floor and a pair of almost silent feet padded away from where I was.

“I’m going to get you checked out of this place,” he said as he paused. “Once you’re allowed to leave, we’re going to go visit my friend.”

“You mean that medical nin that you say lives outside the village?” I asked.

“Exactly. If there’s anything that can be done, I’m sure she will at least now about it,” Kakashi answered. “Be back soon.”

I sighed as the door clicked shut, leaving me alone for who knows how long. With how tardy Kakashi usually ended up being, ‘soon’ could mean anywhere between five minutes to five hours from now after flirting with every nurse in the building and then blaming it on a cat. Again. I really didn’t want to wait, but I didn’t exactly have much of a choice. It was either wait for Kakashi or try and escape out a window I wasn’t even sure existed.

So, I waited.

And waited.

And _waited._

I was bored. Bored and still in this stupid hospital gown. But at least the hospital gown I could fix. The staff usually left my clothes somewhere in the room so all I really needed to do was find them.

The first order of business was my goggles and forehead protector. They were the most important. I touched my face, finding the goggles still firmly in place, but the forehead protector was not. It was a strange choice for the hospital staff but I wasn’t going to judge. Normally, forehead protectors were kept on the nightstand next to the bed so, mine should be there as well.

I inched carefully towards the edge of the bed, trying to make sure I didn’t fall in my search for the nightstand. It took a few tries to locate the table and then a few more to find the piece of cloth and metal located on it. Several of those tries ending with jammed fingers, a spilt cup of what I hope was water, and nearly knocking said forehead protector onto the floor.

I tied the forehead protector into place with a sigh. I already felt a little better with the familiar piece of cloth in place. Sure, my head still hurt but it was a step in the right direction.

Unfortunately, my clothes were not on the nightstand as well, so I was forced to look elsewhere. Maybe they would be at the end of the bed and it would be easy. Then I wouldn’t have to try and traverse a room I didn’t know without sight. That would be great. So I made my way towards the end of the bed, hoping they made things easy for me. Before I could find out one way or another, my hand only met air and I was sent tumbling to the floor.

I laid there for a moment, trying to get by bearings.

“Ow,” I muttered, righting myself so I was sitting on the floor properly. I rubbed at my elbow, which was now IV free because of the fall, and stung like hell. I was debating on whether I should get up when several pairs of feet hurrying down the hall made me freeze. Nothing good ever came from people running in the hospital, when it ended with my door being slammed open.

“Um…hi?” I said, trying to sound cheerful and definitely not guilty of anything. No doubt it was a flock of nurses that heard the thump and came running before realizing who made it. “So, nice weather we’re having, huh?”

“Uzumaki!” a voice barked, the smile fading from my face at the sound. Of course, _she’d_ be here. “You were trying to escape again, weren’t you?”

At that moment, I really wished I could sink into the floor and disappear. I didn’t want to deal with her. She was loud, and obnoxious, and my head already hurt, her voice was only making it worse. She was supposed to be a professional but there was nothing professional about how she treated me. She _hated_ me.

“Well? Answer me, brat!” She snapped.

“I wasn’t! Really!” I insisted, though it didn’t sound at all believable. The other nurses started to leave, their footsteps trailing away evenly until it was just me and the loud woman. “I…fell out of bed.”

“Bullshit,” she hissed, her voice only slightly lower in volume then before. It was still affecting my headache pretty bad though. “I’m not a naive little nurse you can fool with your innocent act. You’ve already pulled out your IV. If I hadn’t come when I did, you would have already been out that window.”

“There’s a win-uh, I mean, I didn’t pull the IV out. It got caught on the bed or-“ I tried to explain but she clearly didn’t want to hear it.

“I’ve had enough of your lies, brat!” her voice started to raise again, making me flinch. “There’s not a singe time you haven’t tried to escape the hospital before you were discharged.”

“Well, maybe if you weren’t such a bitch about it, I wouldn’t have to!” I yelled back, frustration and my headache working together to ruin my decision-making skills. I covered my mouth immediately upon realizing my mistake.

“How _dare_ you!” She yelled, angry footsteps heading straight towards me.

I flinched away, knowing what was coming. This wouldn’t be the first time she slapped me for ‘being a brat’, and if she got her way, it would probably not be the last.

I blinked in confusion as the sound of skin hitting skin rang through the room, but no pain accompanied it. In fact, there was no one even touching me.

“This is my student you’re _caring_ for,” Kakashi’s voice said, interrupting the silence that followed. He sounded cold, furious, like every inch the ANBU he used to be. But it was reassuring, just having him there. And the fact that his fury was aimed at the nurse was definitely a plus. “I’m certain you are aware about the laws concerning civilian assaulting shinobi, if not I’m sure your memory will be refreshed very soon.”

“You have no authority here,” she growled at him though the several footsteps she took backwards said otherwise.

“And as of his discharge five minutes ago, neither do you,” Kakashi pointed out. “Get out. And if I see you anywhere near my students again, I assure you, that will be the last time.”

She made a disinterested sound that didn’t sound exactly genuine as her footsteps damn near rushed out of the room, the door slamming behind her as she left.

“Are you alright?” Kakashi asked, his voice back to normal.

“Yeah,” I said, sitting on the floor silently for a long moment. “I hate her.”

“I can see why,” he said, slipping an arm under mine and helping me to my feet. I wobbled for a moment but once I was stable, he let go. “I’m going to assume she’s another reason you hate hospitals.”

I nodded, my headache only getting worse even though it had gotten quiet again. It hurt. Kakashi was saying something else but the pain was just too distracting for me to be able to tell what he was saying. It was just getting worse. Eventually I sat down on the bed, pulling my goggles off so I could press my hands against my eyes, trying to relieve some of the pain. I wasn’t sure if it was working or if it was just making me feel a little better.

“Naruto?” Kakashi asked, a hand dropping gently onto his shoulder. “Are you alright?”

“My head…hurts,” I muttered to him. “Behind my eyes.”

“How bad?”

“Bad,” I said quietly. A familiar pile of fabric was placed onto my lap.

“Get dressed,” Kakashi said. “We’re going to Rin’s as soon as you’re done.”

“Rin?”

“My medic-nin friend,” Kakashi answered. “In the meantime, I’m going to go talk to the Hokage about a certain nurse we both know and hate.”

I nodded hearing a bit of a swoosh that could only be from a shunshin. I smiled lightly, hoping he was more successful than me. I had tried to tell him before but with the other nurses covering for her, it never worked. Maybe Kakashi would have better luck.

I sat in silence for a few another minute or two before finally convincing myself to drop my hands onto the fabric in my lap. I needed to get dressed, which mean I had to figure out which piece was which. I had a feeling that it wasn’t going to be fun.


	7. Meeting Rin

KAKASHI

Kakashi came back five minutes later, Naruto still wasn’t completely dressed. He had his pants on properly but the tee-shirt was backwards with an arm up through his collar along with his head. But what concerned Kakashi was that he seemed to have stopped halfway through the process and was now just lying on the bed with his coat pressed against his eyes.

“It’s gotten worse, hasn’t it?” Kakashi asked, kneeling down beside the bed to study his student. He looked to be in a lot of pain, shaking faintly, his hands fisted in the coat’s fabric. Naruto nodded into the coat, not even trying to speak. “Alright, then let’s get your shirt fixed and we’ll leave. Rin will know what to do, I promise.”

Kakashi only became more worried when Naruto sat up limply, his fingers releasing the coat without a response. So Kakashi quickly straightened the boy’s shirt, helped him into the jacket before pulling the boy up onto his back and shooting out the window faster than he normally would have.

Darting across the rooftops, he reached the village gate in record timing with Naruto’s fists curled in the sleeves of his shirt. Kakashi dropped down to the ground, giving the eternal Chunin a short salute as they stared at him in surprise. Kakashi started answering their questions before the two could even ask them.

“Naruto and I are off to see a friend of mine. We’ll be back tomorrow. Yes, the Hokage is aware and has approved it,” Kakashi listed off. “Yes, I’m aware Naruto is not feeling well. We’re working on that. Thank you for the consideration. We really must be going. Ja ne!”

Before either of them had opened their mouth to question, Kakashi took off out into the forest and out of sight.

Kakashi moved as fast as he could, wanting to get there as soon as possible. He really didn’t like seeing his normally hyper student now so lifeless. It was like carrying a life-size doll on his back, the only sign of life being the boy’s grip on his shirt.

A few minutes later that he finally landed in front of a wooden shack in the middle of woods. It was fairly large, big enough for a couple people to live comfortably if need be. Kakashi wasted no time entering the shack and looking for its occupants.

“Rin, are you here?” Kakashi called, hoping she wasn’t out.

“I’m in the kitchen, Kakashi,” a voice called from down the hall.

Kakashi hid a sigh of relief as he headed down the hallway towards the kitchen. He stepped into the room, to find a small, brunette woman grinding up herbs with a mortar and pestle. Her short hair was tied back in a small pony-tail and dressed in a bright, long sleeve shirt and black, baggy pants with an apron on to keep from making a mess.

“I thought you were busy with that genin team your supposed to be teaching,” Rin said, looking up from her work with a smile. “What brings you here?”

“I need you to take a look at him,” Kakashi answered, nodding his head towards the student on his back. Her dark eyes widened at the sight of the small blond on his back. She finally set down her work in surprise.

“Is that…?”

“Naruto, yes,” Kakashi said with a nod. “He’s in a lot of pain.”

“But this is what the hospital is for,” she said, taking off her apron and approaching regardless.

“The hospital hates him, Rin,” Kakashi said. “I’ve seen how they treat him and it’s bad. I only trust you with this.”

Rin sighed sadly, pushing some hair out of the kid’s face.

“What’s wrong?” she asked softly.

“It’s a little complicated,” Kakashi answered.

“Come on.” She motioned back towards the hallway. “You can set him down in the spare room.”

They made their way into the next room over. It was mostly just used as a storage room for whatever she needed, but there was a bed that was used for the occasional patient. Unfortunately, Naruto didn’t seem to get the memo and continued to cling to his shirt.

“I’ve got him,” Rin said, flipping through a few hand signs, her hands glowing green before using it to knock Naruto unconscious. He immediately went limp, allowing himself to be maneuvered onto the bed. She froze upon catching sight of his goggles.

“Those are Obito’s,” she said. “I never thought you’d give those away.”

“He earned them,” Kakashi answered, pulling them off his head and setting them on a nearby box of supplies. “I’m worried about his eyes. Naruto came back from the second Chunin test blind. There’s no explanation that he can remember. He simply went to sleep one night and then woke up blind. Now, as of about ten to fifteen minutes ago, an intense pain started behind his eyes.”

“This is serious, Kakashi. I don’t have the technology for this type of diagnosis,” Rin said. “I understand your distrust of the hospital but they can at least trust them to figure out what’s going on.”

“He wants to keep it a secret so he won’t lose his ninja rank,” Kakashi explained. “You’re our only option.”

“Ok, I’ll see what I can do.”

Rin ran through a few different hand signs before placing her glowing hands over his eyes, closing her own to focus better. Kakashi stayed silent, letting her work. It was about ten minutes before the green glow started to fade and Rin relaxed. It was a long moment before she finally looked at Kakashi, her expression grim.

“That bad?”

“Yeah, it’s bad,” she said, sighing as she stood up. “I’ll get into it more once he wakes up. He should be up in twenty minutes or so.”

She went to leave, but Kakashi grabbed her sleeve gently making her stop.

“Will he be able to see again?”

Rin was silent for a long moment.

“I…I don’t know.”

! ! ! ! TWENTY MINUTES LATER! ! ! !

NARUTO

My hand shot to my eyes as soon as I woke, my goggles mysteriously missing. The pain was gone, which was good, but I didn’t like not having my goggles. I may not have had them for very long, but I already felt wrong not wearing them.

“Where are my goggles?” I wondered outloud. I highly doubted I would have been left alone after what happened earlier. Even if they weren’t in the room they would be close enough for me to hear me.

“Right here,” a sweet voice said as a small object was placed in my lap. I sat up, picking up the thing to find the increasingly familiar feel of my goggles.

“Sweet. Thanks,” I said, grinning towards the voice as I slid my goggles back on. “You’re Kakashi’s friend, right?”

“Yes, I am,” she said. Her voice was nice, without any of the resentment that most adults seem to have. It was refreshing. “My name is Rin.”

“Nice to meet you, Rin,” I said, holding my hand out towards where I thought she was. “I’m Naruto.”

She chuckled lightly, taking my hand and shaking it.

“It’s nice to meet you, too.”

“Is Kaka-sensei here too?” I asked, letting go and sitting comfortably on the bed. Again, it wasn’t mine but it wasn’t a hospital bed either, so it was alright. “I don’t think he is but I’ve been wrong before. He’s really quiet sometimes. Probably because he’s a ninja.”

“No, he’s cooking in the kitchen,” she answered. I gawked her for several seconds before she noticed. “What?”

“Kakashi can _cook?!”_ I exclaimed.

“He’s lived on his own for a very long time. It was either learn, or live off take out,” she said, more than a little amused.

“There’s always instant ramen,” I said with a shrug.

“People can’t live off instant ramen alone,” Rin said. “It’s not exactly nutritious.”

“I do. Mostly,” I said with a shrug.

“You really shouldn’t,” she scolded.

“What? Ramen is amazing! And it’s cheap so I can get a lot of it, which is even better,” I said happily. I was about to give her a long lecture on the miracle that was ramen when I heard a set of footsteps heading towards us, something delicious smelling following them. It wasn’t ramen but it did smell very good. “Kakashi! What’s that?”

A door squeaked open slightly, the smell intensifying.

“Just a few grilled cheese sandwiches,” he answered. “Something simple that I wouldn’t cause a mess to make.”

“Why would it matter if you made a mess?” I asked, tracking his footsteps as he walked across the room and place a plate in my lap.

“Because I’m the one that has to clean it up,” Kakashi answered flatly. I chuckled, feeling the plate to find a warm sandwich on top it.

“It smells good, at least,” I teased with a smile. It felt like forever since I had eaten that ramen after the first test. I wasn’t even sure how long it had been since then, but I was certainly hungry now. Maybe this was something I could ask Kakashi about.

“Hey, sensei?” I started. I could almost feel the air tense as both adults paused their eating. This brought up several more question that I didn’t feel like addressing at the moment. If being blind had any advantage it was probably that I could ignore the mood of a room and no one would be any the wiser. “How long has it been since the prelims?”

“Finally got curious, huh?” Kakashi asked, sounding a bit relieved. I nodded. “It’s only been a day.”

“A whole day?!”

“It could be worse. You heal a lot quicker than most. You’d probably still be out if you didn’t.”

“But I must be so far behind! Everyone else would have started training already and I don’t even know who’s going to be training me?!” I exclaimed.

“Everyone else is still recovering as well. You’re no farther behind then anyone else,” Kakashi reassured.

“Oh. Yeah,” I muttered.

The tense silence was back immediately, covering the room like a heavy blanket. I sat there for a few minutes until I couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Alright, why are you both so tense?” I asked, setting down my last half of sandwich to address them.

“What do you mean?” Rin asked.

“You’ve been walking on eggshells since I woke up,” I stated flatly. “Just because I’m blind doesn’t mean I don’t notice things.”

“You can’t put it off forever, Rin,” Kakashi stated, the chair creaking back like he was reclining. I don’t quite remember him sitting down but it was probably because I was distracted by the food.

“I know,” she said with a sigh. “I examined your eyes while you rested.”

“I thought so,” I said with a shrug. “My head doesn’t hurt anymore and my goggles are off.”

“Right,” she said, taking a breath before continuing. “Your eyes themselves are undamaged. But the optic nerve seemed to have been severed a few centimeters behind the eyes. Not completely, just enough so you can’t see through them.”

“Did you understand that, Naruto?” Kakashi asked after a moment of silence.

“I think so,” I answered, scratching my head in thought. “That means the connections between my eyes and brain got cut, right?”

“Yes,” Kakashi answered. “I’d like to know how.”

“There’s some residual medical chakra remaining on the nerves. It’s pretty safe to say that it was done with a medical jutsu.”

“So, it was intentional,” Kakashi stated, not even bothering to question. Rin said nothing, though I had a feeling she was just nodding to him. “Is it reversable?”

“Not as far as I know,” she said. “The nerve could be reconnected fairly easily, but not with the residual chakra keeping them separate. The person that did this, did it in such a way that it practically insured that it can’t be fixed. Maybe someone like Tsunade might know, but even that’s a fairly slim chance.”

They continued talking among themselves, something about trying to figure out who would have the skill and opportunity to do that. But I wasn’t listening. I didn’t _want_ to listen. As calm as I was trying to be about this, I had been really hoping it could just be fixed. But it wasn’t. It wasn’t fixable. Rin said herself. I didn’t know who this Tsunade was but if she was the only one that _may_ know a way, I might as well give up ever seeing again.

It would be practically impossible to achieve my goals without my sight. How was a blind person supposed to climb the ranks to hokage? I would be risking my life for every mission I went on, even the stupid D-rank ones.

I would be useless.

“Naruto?” Rin’s voice coupled with a gentle hand on my shoulder pulled me from my thoughts. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” I said, grinning even though I didn’t feel like grinning. “I’m great!”

There was an awkward silence that stretched a long time before she spoke again.

“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice so sincere. “I really wish I could just fix this for you but I just don’t know how. I’m so sorry.”

“I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to collect my thoughts. I didn’t have time to be upset about this. There was only a month before finals and I needed every second of that time to prepare. I had to stay focused.

Plus, if I could beat Kiba while newly blind, imagine what I could do after a month of training.

“It’s not your fault,” I said, opening my eyes to nothing once again. “I can still do stuff. Everything else, I’ll figure out as I go.”

“I’m glad you think as much,” Kakashi interrupted. “Though, if we’re talking about fault, I may know who is. Didn’t you say earlier that you ran into Kabuto the day before, right?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Before you woke up in the hospital, I caught him in Sasuke’s room trying to kill him,” Kakashi stated. “I was able to stop him, but he used high quality medical ninjutsu to kill the guards stationed there.”

“Kabuto? But he’s a Konoha ninja! Why would he try to kill Sasuke? That doesn’t make sense.”

“I don’t think you understand, Naruto,” Kakashi said with a sigh. “Kabuto was the only one in the whole exam that has not only shown himself to be well trained in medical jutsu. He’s also the only one with the opportunity to use those jutsus against you. What I’m saying is, he’s probably responsible for blinding you.”

“But…he’s practically harmless… for a ninja…”

“A ninja’s greatest weapon is deception,” Kakashi said gently. “If it makes you feel any better, I didn’t suspect him either.”

“It doesn’t,” I muttered. I heard him start to say something else but I was done. I didn’t want to hear this anymore. “Can we change the subject, please?”

“Of course.”

“Why did my head hurt this morning but not when it first happened?”

“He fused chakra into the nerve when he cut it, which is what’s keeping me being able to fix it,” Rin started to explain. “If it were anyone else, they would be find. Blind, but fine. But your bijuu doesn’t like that foreign chakra too much. The Kyuubi’s chakra is acting like antibodies and has been attacking it. But it took time to for the bijuu’s chakra to recognize it and start it’s attack.”

“So, the Kyuubi’s chakra is trying to get rid of the other chakra?” I asked.

“Yes, it is.”

“If…it gets rid of it, would I be able to get my sight back?”

“No,” Rin answered after a moment. “Bijuu chakra is very toxic, especially that of the Kyuubi. I’m sure the Kyuubi chakra could get rid of it, but by then the optic nerve would be far too damaged to be useable. It’s just too delicate, it’s not meant to contain such a potent chakra.”

“What did you do to make it stop hurting?”

“I masked the chakra so that the Bijuu chakra won’t attack it,” Rin explained simply. “It won’t last forever but it’s gives us some time. Two months, actually.”

“So in two months the pain is just going to start again,” I said quietly.

“Not necessarily. I can reapply it once the time gets closer, if necessary.”

“But why?” I questioned. “Can’t we just let the Bijuu chakra get rid of it? So we don’t have to deal with it anymore?

“Naruto, if you do that, you’d be giving up your chance to see again,” Rin pointed out. “There are better Medical ninjas than me. They might know something I don’t. Be able to _do_ something I can’t. Giving up now, would do you no good.”

“But it…it hurt,” I said, getting more nervous as I spoke. “It hurt a _lot_. And who knows where I’ll be in two months. Some missions take longer than two months. Some take a lot longer than two months. And I…”

I went silent, unsure how to phrase it. Or whether I even wanted to.

“Naruto?”

“I don’t want to feal pain like that ever again,” I muttered.

“You won’t.” A hand was placed gently on my shoulder. It was smaller than Kakashi’s hands so it had to belong to Rin. “Not as long as I’m able to help. And with Kakashi in charge of your team, I’m sure he can make sure you’re back from any mission in plenty of time.”

“I guess,” I said, not convinced.

“You’re not alone in this,” Kakashi pointed out. “We’re here to help you, however we can.”

I took a breath, already feeling a lot better.

“Thanks,” I said with a smile.

“You’re welcome,” Kakashi said happily. “Now finish eating. We’ll be heading back in the morning.”

“Why the morning?” I asked before taking a bite of my sandwich. It was cold now but it still tasted good. That’s all that really mattered.

“I want to keep an eye on you overnight,” Rin pointed out. “Just to make sure nothing else goes wrong.”

“Oh,” I mumbled through my food. I swallowed it before continuing. “Ok.” 

“Which will give us plenty of time to talk about that fight coming up,” Kakashi stated. I tilted my head curiously.

“You haven’t even told me who I’m going to fight yet.”

“That’s not the first thing we need to talk about,” Kakashi stated.

“Then what? Are we talking about?” I asked tentatively, my brain trying to figure out what I could have possibly done wrong.

“I believe you promised you’d listen to my orders, correct?”

“Yeah?”

“Wasn’t one of my orders _not_ to fight Kiba?”

Oh. Right. That.

“But I won.”

“That you did,” Kakashi agreed. “And the fact that you were able to handle that fight while so newly blinded is the only reason I haven’t pulled you out completely. Yet. But don’t get me wrong, I’ll will if my conditions aren’t met.”

“What conditions?” I asked, taking another bite of my sandwich.”

“The main one is that you need to come up with a way to substitute your sight,” Kakashi said. “Maybe not a true substitute, but something to help offset its loss.”

“But why?”

“You may have won against Kiba but it was just barely,” Kakashi pointed out. “Everyone’s that in the next stage is a lot better than him. You’re going to need the extra help.”

“How am I supposed to do that?” I asked incredulously.

“You’ll have to figure that out over the next month,” Kakashi said, pausing for a moment before continuing. “I’ll be checking when you before the fight to make sure you accomplished it.”

“How?”

“I’ll be asking you a question.”

“What question?”

_“The_ question,” Kakashi said, emphasizing the ‘the’ with a finger tapping my nose. I came to the realization immediately.

“Oh! You mean _that_ question.”

“But of course,” He said, his voice sounding as if he were smiling.

“So you’re really serious about this, huh?”

“Yes. You’re going to as much help as you can get with who you’re going against,” Kakashi pointed out.

“Who _am_ I going against?” I stressed.

“Didn’t I tell you already?” Kakashi asked, sounding far too innocent to be sincere.

“No, you didn’t. You haven’t even told me who made it to the last round.” I pouted in his direction, getting an amused chuckle in response.

“Right, right. How silly of me,” he mused. “The ones you know already are Sasuke, Gaara, Shino, Kankuro, Temari, Shikamaru, and of course, you. The one’s you missed were Neji, Dosu, and Fu.”

“Who did they fight?”

“Neji versed his cousin, Hinata. Dosu went against Choji, and Fu was against Zaku.”

“How did Neji win? Hinata’s got that cool eye jutsu thing that can see everything.”

“Neji does as well,” he pointed out. “He is almost older and has more training in using it. He also seemed to have held some resentment for her since he was the only other one to almost kill his opponent.”

My jaw dropped in shock. It took me a few seconds to process it. A Konoha nin tried to kill not just their fellow Konoha nin, but their cousin.

“But she’s his _family._ ” I stated quietly. “Why would he try to kill his family?”

“He’s a very angry young man. I don’t think he really cares about that.”

“He should,” I said with a frown. “Family is a gift and he’s just treating them like dirt!”

“I know. Trust me, I know as well as you do,” Kakashi said. I sent him a funny look, unsure what he actually meant but continuing regardless.

“Someone should teach him that.”

“I’m glad you think so. Because you’ll have the chance to do just that,” he said proudly. “Neji is going to be your first opponent.”

I sat there for a long moment before bursting out laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Rin asked as I tried to breathe through my chuckles. “Neji is going to be very difficult to beat. Not only is he a genius in his clan’s tijutsu but he has his byakugan down to almost an art.”

“Yeah,” I said, in amusement. “He can see everything. He’s fighting me, a kid who can’t see anything. I can’t wait to see what he does when he loses.”

**Author's Note:**

> Check out my [tumblr](https://twicethetrouble.tumblr.com/) for updates and other random stuff!


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